The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

《小王子》是法国作家安托万·德·圣-埃克苏佩里于1942年写成的著名法国儿童文学短篇小说。小说的主人公是来自外星球的小王子。小说以一位飞行员作为故事叙述者，讲述了小王子从自己星球出发前往地球的过程中，所经历的各种历险。作者以小王子的孩子式的眼光，透视出成人的空虚、盲目，愚妄和死板教条，用天真简单的语言写出了人类的孤独寂寞。同时，也表达出作者对金钱关系的批判，对真善美的讴歌。

本文节选自《小王子》第五章。

I believe that for his escape he took advantage of the migration of a lock of wild birds.

On the morning of his departure he put his planet in perfect order.

He carefully cleaned out his active volcanoes.

He possessed two active volcanoes;and they were very convenient for heating his breakfast in the morning.

He also had one volcano that was extinct.

But，as he said，“One never knows！”

So he cleaned out the extinct volcano，too.

If they are well cleaned out，volcanoes burn slowly and steadily，without any eruptions.

Volcanic eruptions are like fires in a chimney.

On our earth we are obviously much too small to clean out our volcanoes.

That is why they bring no end of trouble upon us.

The little prince also pulled up，with a certain sense of dejection，the last little shoots of the baobabs.

He believed that he would never want to return.

But on this last morning all these familiar tasks seemed very precious to him.

And when he watered the flower for the last time，and prepared to place her under the shelter of her glass globe，he realised that he was very close to tears.

“Goodbye，”he said to the flower.

But she made no answer.

“Goodbye，”he said again.

The flower coughed.

But it was not because she had a cold.

“I have been silly，”she said to him，at last.“I ask your forgiveness. Try to be happy... ”

He was surprised by this absence of reproaches.

我想小王子大概是利用一群候鳥迁徙的机会跑出来的。

在他出发的那天早上，他把他的星球收拾得整整齐齐，

他把上头的活火山打扫得干干净净。

他有两个活火山，早上热早点很方便。

他还有一座死火山。

他想，“说不定它还会活动呢！”

他也把它打扫干净。

打扫干净了，它们就可以慢慢地有规律地燃烧，而不会突然爆发。

火山爆发就像烟囱里的火焰一样。

当然，在我们地球上我们人太小，不能打扫火山，

所以火山给我们带来很多很多麻烦。

小王子还把剩下的最后几棵猴面包树苗全拔了。他有点忧伤。

他以为他再也不会回来了。

这天，这些家常活使他感到特别亲切。

当他最后一次浇花时，准备把她好好珍藏起来，

他发觉自己要哭出来。

“再见了。”他对花儿说道。

可是花儿没有回答他。

“再见了。”他又说了一遍。

花儿咳嗽了一阵。

但并不是由于感冒。

她终于对他说道：“我刚才真蠢。请你原谅我。希望你能幸福。”

花儿对他毫不抱怨，他感到很惊讶。

He stood there all bewildered，the glass globe held arrested in midair.

He did not understand this quiet sweetness.

“Of course I love you，”the flower said to him.

It is my fault that you have not known it all the while.

That is of no importance.

But you—you have been just as foolish as I.

Try to be happy.

Let the glass globe be. I don't want it any more.

But the wind...？

My cold is not so bad as all that...the cool night air will do me good.

I am a flower.

But the animals？

Well，I must endure the presence of two or three caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.

It seems that they are very beautiful.

And if not the butterflies—and the caterpillars—who will call upon me？

You will be far away...as for the large animals—I am not at all afraid of any of them. I have my claws.

And，navely，she showed her four thorns.

Then she added：“Don't linger like this. You have decided to go away. Now go！”

For she did not want him to see her crying. She was such a proud flower...

He found himself in the neighborhood of the asteroids 325，326，327，328，329，and 330.

He began，therefore，by visiting them，in order to add to his knowledge.

The first of them was inhabited by a king.

Clad in royal purple and ermine，he was seated upon a throne which was at the same time both simple and majestic.

“Ah！Here is a subject，”exclaimed the king，when he saw the little prince coming.

And the little prince asked himself：“How could he recognize me when he had never seen me before？”

He did not know how the world is simplified for kings. To them，all men are subjects.

“Approach，so that I may see you better，”said the king，who felt consumingly proud of being at last a king over somebody.

The little prince looked everywhere to find a place to

他舉着罩子，不知所措地伫立在那里。

他不明白她为什么会这样温柔恬静。

“的确，我爱你。”花儿对他说道。

你一点也不知道是我的错。

这丝毫不重要。

不过，你也和我一样的蠢。

希望你今后能幸福。

把罩子放在一边吧，我用不着它了。

要是风来了怎么办？

我的感冒并不那么重……夜晚的凉风对我倒有好处。

我是一朵花。

要是有虫子野兽呢？

我要是想认识蝴蝶，经不起两三只尺蠖是不行的。

据说他们是很美的。

如果不是蝴蝶，毛虫——不然还有谁来看我呢？

你就要到远方去了。至于说大动物，我并不怕，我有爪子。

于是，她天真地显露出她那四根刺，

随后又说道：“别这么磨蹭了。真烦人！你既然决定离开这儿，那么，快走吧！”

她是怕小王子看见她在哭。她是一朵非常骄傲的花……

在附近的宇宙中，还有325、326、327、328、329、330等几颗小行星。

他就开始访问这几颗星球，想在那里找点事干，并且学习学习。

第一颗星球上住着一个国王。

国王穿着用紫红色和白底黑花的毛皮做成的大礼服，坐在一个很简单却又十分威严的宝座上。

当他看见小王子时，喊了起来：“啊，来了一个臣民。”

小王子思量着：“他从来也没有见过我，怎么会认识我呢？”

他哪里知道，在那些国王的眼里，世界是非常简单的：所有的人都是臣民。

国王十分骄傲，因为他终于成了某个人的国王，他对小王子说道：：靠近些，好让我好好看看你。”

小王子看看四周，想找个地方坐下来，

sit down;

but the entire planet was crammed and obstructed by the kings magnificent ermine robe.

So he remained standing upright，and，since he was tired，he yawned.

“It is contrary to etiquette to yawn in the presence of a king，”the monarch said to him. “I forbid you to do so.”

“I can't help it. I can't stop myself，”replied the little prince，thoroughly embarrassed.

I have come on a long journey，and I have had no sleep...

“Ah，then，”the king said. “I order you to yawn.”

It is years since I have seen anyone yawning.

Yawns，to me，are objects of curiosity.

Come，now！Yawn again！It is an order.

“That frightens me... I cannot，any more...”murmured the little prince，now completely abashed.

“Hum！Hum！”replied the king. “Then I —I order you sometimes to yawn and sometimes to—”

He sputtered a little，and seemed vexed.

For what the king fundamentally insisted upon was that his authority should be respected.

He tolerated no disobedience.

He was an absolute monarch.

But，because he was a very good man，he made his orders reasonable.

“If I ordered a general，”he would say，by way of ex- ample，"if I ordered a general to change himself into a sea bird，

and if the general did not obey me，that would not be the fault of the general. It would be my fault.”

“May I sit down？”came now a timid inquiry from the little prince.

“I order you to do so，”the king answered him，and majestically gathered in a fold of his ermine mantle.

But the little prince was wondering...

The planet was tiny. Over what could this king really rule？

“Sire，”he said to him，”I beg that you will excuse my asking you a question...”

“I order you to ask me a question，”the king hastened to assure him.

Sire-over what do you rule？

可是整個星球被国王华丽的白底黑花皮袍占满了。

他只好站在那里，但是因为疲倦了，他打起哈欠来。

君王对他说：“在一个国王面前打哈欠是违反礼节的。我禁止你打哈欠。”

小王子羞愧地说道：“我实在忍不住，”

我长途跋涉来到这里，还没有睡觉呢。

国王说：“那好吧，我命令你打哈欠。”

好些年来我没有看见过任何人打哈欠了。

对我来说，打哈欠倒是新奇的事。

来吧，再打个哈欠！这是命令。

“这倒叫我有点紧张……我打不出哈欠来了……”小王子红着脸说。

“嗯！嗯！”国王回答道：“那么我……命令你有时打哈欠，有时……”

他嘟嘟囔囔，显出有点恼怒。

因为国王所要求的主要是保持他的威严受到尊敬。

他不能容忍不听他的命令。

他是一位绝对的君主。

可是，他却很善良，他下的命令都是有理智的。

“如果我命令一个将军，”他会说，举个例子，“如果我命令一个将军改变自己变成一个海鸟，”

而这位将军不服从我的命令，那么这就不是将军的过错，而是我的过错。”

小王子腼腆地试探道：“我可以坐下吗？”

“我命令你坐下。”国王一边回答，一边庄重地把他那白底黑花皮袍大襟挪动了一下。

可是小王子感到很奇怪。

这么小的行星，国王他对什么进行统治呢？

他对国王说：“陛下……请原谅，我想问您……”

国王急忙抢着说道：“我命令你问我。”

陛下……你统治什么呢？

“Over everything，”said the king，with magnificent simplicity.

Over everything？

The king made a gesture，which took in his planet，the other planets，and all the stars.

“Over all that？”asked the little prince.

“Over all that，”the king answered.

For his rule was not only absolute：it was also universal.

And the stars obey you？

“Certainly they do，”the king said. “They obey instantly. I do not permit insubordination.”

国王非常简单明了地说：“我统治一切。”

一切？

国王轻轻地用手指着他的行星和其他的行星，以及所有的星星。

小王子说：“统治这一切？”

“统治这一切。”国王回答。

原来他不仅是一个绝对的君主，而且是整个宇宙的君主。

那么，星星都服从您吗？

“那当然！”国王对他说，“它们立即就得服从。我是不允许无纪律的。”